While I was doing dishes this morning there was a moment, where each child was contentedly, though not necessarily quietly occupied on their own. Qade was busily doing school, Myles was driving his pick-up truck around in circles in the house and Ella was coloring a masterpiece on a Pooh coloring book page. When I noticed that this was happening, the feeling of relief was so intense that it reminded me just how much energy it takes on a constant basis to keep things going normally. Here I was able to get through an entire task (filling the dishwasher and cleaning countertops) without a screaming interruption. I’m sure that this happens more often than I give it credit for, but it struck me today because I was recently thinking that it’s been such a challenge to get the littles to a point where they can play independently, or even together, for any length of time without a crisis. I realize that comes with the toddler/preschooler territory, but today even though it was short lived, I realized there will come a time when I don’t have to be orchestrating each and every activity in their day, and they won’t constantly be climbing on me for more and more and more ideas. While in some ways I know that will be a relief (mom’s are people too!) I also know I will miss their clamoring for attention as well. So I’ll enjoy the moments of reprieve when they come, but I’m happy to help them find ways of using their boundless supply of energy right now as well. 🙂

It’s stormy today. Though it can’t decide if it wants to be snowing or raining. At one point it was snow, and Myles happened to spy it out the window and came running to me excitement etched in every bit of his being as he said, “Mom! I saw snow coming down from the sky!!” This boy has been waiting for “snow time” as he calls it, since summer I’m pretty sure. 😉 It’s a little funny though because he is usually the first one to come inside if he starts to get cold outside.

We have found baby Jesus! Sometimes. Ella has claimed that particular piece from the nativity as her own special property. No surprise there with her obsession about babies! So she carries it around the house with her. I’ve found it in various locations like the bottom of the stairs, or in the pantry. Still it always seems to find it’s way back into her little hand somehow. 🙂

Rosie is being a pill. You remember Rosie our robot vacuum? Well, recently she has taken to complaining about “debris” in her brush, or she’ll even tell me that the brush is stuck. So I flip her over remove the casing and check the brush. The thing is, there isn’t anything blocking the spinning or anything. So I’ll start her again and she’ll act like she’s going to start and then nope, griping about her brush again. 🙁 So… I’m not sure what her issue is, but it’s aggravating when I want the floors clean. I suppose I could go the old fashioned route and vacuum and sweep them myself, but who wants to do that? 😉

I tried making cinnamon ornaments with the kids this week. I won’t say it was an epic fail because eventually we did get some usable ornaments out of the batch. I will say that it didn’t go exactly like I thought it would. For some reason I was anticipating that the “dough” would act like playdoh or something, and it wasn’t anything like in texture or pliability. Plus I had it in my mind to use mini-cookie cutters. They were so cute, and I figured it would make the dough go farther, and I liked the little size as opposed to larger ones. BUT those tiny cutters just got jammed up with dough that wouldn’t very easily pop out. The kiddos were frustrated, and I was having to re-kneed and re-roll their dough multiple times. Finally they each got a few presentable ones onto the cookie sheet, and I bribed them to go outside and have a snack while I finished up. Ha ha! Ella did try to eat some of the dough, but I made her spit it out. Yuck!! Finally I got a few shapes that kinda looked like what they were supposed to onto the cookie sheet and called it good. They baked for about an hour and then were done. They smelled amazing!! So even though I had to hot glue some string onto them because they were too small/fragile to poke holes in them, I still think it worked out. The kids enjoyed it, mostly, even though it was a bit of a disaster. 😉 Won’t be doing that particular project again any time soon, I’m pretty sure.

Well, today is a busy day, and I really need to get moving instead of blather on about our nothings, but I figured I’d neglected my blog for too long. Ha!!